The band's writing process

[Shelly]

Does anyone have any links to interviews or articles about how the band writes their songs? I've heard they all collaborate together but I want to read it or hear it straight from the horses mouth (most likely Eric's ;D), in detail.

[foxyfanally]

Yes my dear here's one: www.alternativeaddiction.com/musicnews/article/2446/Round-2-with-Foxy-Shazam
“We never go into a record thinking about making it different than the last one,” said Foxy Shazam horn aficionado, Alex Nauth talking about the band's new album The Church of Rock and Roll. “It just usually is. As a person you kind of grow year to year. You’re not the same person that you were the last year. To me, music is no different than the reflection of yourself. There’s no reason why the music should be the same; This record in particular. We were going through a transition and a rough time in our careers and reflectively in our lives.”

“The state of the music industry and the state of art itself, to us, is disheartening,” said Nauth. “We needed something to look up to but we didn’t really have anything. When you find that point in your life where you need something to look up to and you don’t have it, you create it. That’s what we did. We set out to make a record that we could look up to and hopefully everybody else could do.”

The band’s motivation started with the first song they wrote for the record, “Welcome to the Church.” The song that ended up being the first song on the new album.

“We wrote, ‘Welcome to the Church’ a couple of months before we went out to record,” recalled Nauth. “That song, the lyrics and everything about it, was the bar that we set before we set out to write the record. It said everything the record was supposed to be and it gave us that goal to shoot for so no matter what we never lost sight of it. I think we did it. We couldn’t be more proud of this record.”

[foxyfanally]

I'm looking for more about how they break up into groups.

[foxyfanally]

Here ya go-the quote you were looking for about how they write in pairs. www.writersonprocess.com/2010/11/eric-foxy-shazam.html

But I guarantee you Alex and Eric run that show. They're very close anyway.

So how do you pick who you want to work with?

"Over the years we’ve learned who works best together, and every now and then we’ll go out of our comfort zone and work with someone else. But we pair people based on what strengths they bring."



This is Eric speaking btw.

Does any literature inspire you?

I have never read a book in my life! I’ve gotten a few pages in, but I’ve never finished one. But I read poems a lot.

What poets do you like?

Who was the guy who wrote Where the Sidewalk Ends?

Shel Silverstein?

I love that guy. Everything he has ever done.

You have two kids, right? How do they inform your songwriting?

Correct. Francis is four, and Julian is eight. I have two kids, but my wife has three because I am a kid myself. I got started early; I am only 25. My kids get to watch their dad grow up.

It’s a great thing to have as a musician, to see the mind of a child. It’s the whole Peter Pan story. You forget how to be a kid, but when you have kids it reminds you. And that’s great as a songwriter, just being immature and not overthinking things. When you are a kid, you don’t care what anybody thinks, and that’s a good way to think about music.

As far as your songwriting process, I read that the band often works in pairs to write.

When I was a kid, all of the classes were made of small groups, to zone in more on the individual. So I always felt that working in small groups is the way to go and you can get more work done that way. You can understand things better. So for our process, we work one-on-one to write, but the partner changes depending on the song because we are all great songwriters. Once a pair has something they think is good, they bring it to the rest of the band so that they can put their spin on it. If there are too many chefs in the kitchen, it can be pulled in too many directions, so sometimes it helps to focus just on one part then bring it to everyone.

So how do you pick who you want to work with?

Over the years we’ve learned who works best together, and every now and then we’ll go out of our comfort zone and work with someone else. But we pair people based on what strengths they bring.

If you say that you want to write a song about a certain topic, do you pick a pair based on who would write about that topic the best?

That all came into play when I picked my band members. I wanted to make sure that everyone had the abilities that I didn’t have. Everyone plays a role.

When you sit down to write, what do you start with?

When I want to write a song, I have to be inspired. Clapton, I think it was, said that songs just wait for you in different corners. If you’ve never been to a certain corner of your house, go there; there may be a song waiting for you. Being on tour is great for that, to be places you’ve never been that can inspire you. So I put my body in a place I’ve never been and experience things I’ve never experienced. Once I am inspired, I run with it.

What comes first, the melody or the lyrics?

Usually the melody. I don’t know what it is, but that’s the first thing of a song that hooks me, the melody. Even if I don’t know what they are saying. If I heard a song with bad lyrics but a good melody, I would like it. But if it’s great lyrics and a bad melody, probably not. That could be why I don’t really read that much—there’s no melody.

If the melody comes to you first, do you find that the melody then inspires lyrics because of the emotion associated with it?

Absolutely, and that all goes back to language and pronunciation. You can tell how someone is feeling by how they pronounce a word. It helps a lot when you write the words if you know how it sounds when you sing it.

[Shelly]

OH MY GOD THAT ARTICLE WAS AWESOME!! The 2nd one I mean. Well they were both good but that 2nd one was soooo cool!! Eric is not only a musical genius but he is a genius at life!! Wow.

Thanks for searching those out for us, Lauren!

[foxyfanally]

There's more. I'll post as I find. I liked the first one because Alex talked about everything.

[Shelly]

;D I can understand you being biased with Alex, if there was ever an interview where Daisy talked the most (HAAAHAAAAA!!!! yeah right) I would probably love that one too. I do tend to watch the videos with him in it more than the others. ;D

Looking forward to more articles/interviews whenever you find them!

[spifeypineapple]

Who wouldn't be biased for Alex, HOT DAMN!

But they are great interviews! Really hoping they play an Irish festival in September I'm going to!

[Shelly]

ahhhh Sarah another Alex fan!? I like him too but I'll let you and Foxyfanally fight over him. ;D

But he still rested his chin on my head when our picture was taken! ;D

[spifeypineapple]

D'awwwwww he is such a cutie! Well now come on we shared Matt

[Shelly]

;D Yeah, time to move on from Matt now...I get Daisy and you get Alex! (well, like I said, i'll have to let you and Foxyfanally duke it out for him ;D)

[foxyfanally]

Oh I totally wasn't just looking for Alex interviews (I have those too), just loved it cause he did talk.


And I'm trying to be as classy as possible when I say this: During Temple, Alex's....Temple....was on full display in his tight pants (got a pic) and let's just say there's plenty of room at that...place of worship.

[Shelly]

I love the dirty talk going on here!

[foxyfanally]

I tried. I really did. But class leaves when his clothes come off.

[Shelly]

Mar 4, 2012 23:32:29 GMT -5 foxyfanally said:

I tried. I really did. But class leaves when his clothes come off.

;D I really wish I could 'favorite' this quote of yours!